Current treatments for patients suffering from mental conditions with one or more of the following symptoms: low mental and physical energy level, refusal to eat, loss of ability and will to communicate, decrease in personal hygiene practices and decrease in memory, require using anti-psychotic medications and procedures that are inefficient, costly, traumatic, and have undesirable side effects. Of particular concern are the current treatments of force-feeding patients who have lost the ability to eat, because such procedures terrify the patients and cause them to distrust doctors and clinical personnel.
For patients suffering from the aforementioned conditions, there is a psychiatric need for disinhibiting therapy, which besides improving the person's condition may allow doctors to uncover the symptoms of a mental disease by improving the willingness of a patient to communicate. The existing standard for disinhibition in psychiatric practice was introduced in the United States in 1936 by Samuel Broder (Broder Method). Samuel Broder suggested this method for disinhibiting patients who refused to take food. This method of caffeine-barbamyl disinhibition was widely used in psychiatric clinics in many countries in the world and comprised of the injection of Coffeinum-Natrii Benzoas 1.0-20% subcutaneously, followed by Barbamyl 5.0-10.0% intravenously slowly. The disinhibiting effect lasted 10-15 minutes and the patient had to be closely monitored in order not to miss the beginning of disinhibition. In case of even slight overdose or if the substances were injected too fast, the patient would fall asleep without being able to take food. The Broder Method proved to be not very effective also due to the following flaw—extended use of this method lead to difficulties in feeding patients due to the tolerance that patients would develop towards Barbamyl. The dose of Barbamyl had to be increased to the point that it would become greater than the maximum allowed single dose and thus not possible to inject. Also, it was determined that the repeated injections of Barbamyl lead to psychological and physiological dependency on this substance. Furthermore, the Broder Method does not produce a desirable effect if used only once and the prolonged desired effect is also not observed. In summary, the drawbacks of the Broder Method include: the reliance on the precise timing of the injections, the need for skilled medical personnel to administer the injections, the short duration of the disinhibition effect (only about 15-20 minutes), toxicity issues, and the fact that patients develop tolerance to the treatment over time, decreasing its effectiveness. Despite these shortcomings and the importance of disinhibiting therapy for the treatment of physiological disorders, there has been little progress in developing a successful replacement method for the Broder Method since it was introduced in 1936. Accordingly, a need still exists in the field to provide methods and compositions for a better accomplishing disinhibiting therapy for the treatment of psychological disorders. The present invention provides the composition and technique for an alternative method that disinhibits patients that does not have the flaws of the Broder Method.
In addition to the composition's disinhibiting function, its effect on increasing an individual's appetite may be used as a treatment for eating disorders that is inexpensive, non-toxic, efficient, and does not require specially trained personnel to administer. Patients do not build tolerance to the composition, nor does the composition result in patients developing a physical or psychological dependency.
Eating disorders are wide spread in the United States and are considered a serious social problem, especially among adolescents. The field of psychiatrics is currently lacking an inexpensive and efficient method of treatment of eating disorders.
The individual components of the composition do not have a disinhibiting function or an effect on appetite. It is only through the unique combination of the individual components that the desired effects may be achieved.